Hicks wants Parry out

The dramas surrounding the ownership of English Premier League club Liverpool have continued with co-owner Tom Hicks asking long serving chief executive Rick Parry to resign.

The request is the latest twist in the tumultuous relationship between Hicks and co-owner George Gillett Jr., who has been closely aligned with Parry.

Parry, who sat with the Gillett family during Tuesday's Champions League win over Arsenal, vowed to fight on after 10 years on the job.

"It is my intention to remain focused on the job of serving Liverpool Football Club to the best of my abilities at this very important time of our season,'' Parry said.

Sources have stated that Hicks has been unhappy with Parry's ability to run the club.

Hicks' main concerns are supposedly that Parry is slow and unresponsive when dealing with manager Rafa Benitez and the signing of players, and that he is disrespectful to fans, particularly over tickets for last season's Champions League final.

Despite being English football's most decorated club, the five-time European champions lag behind their global rivals in terms of generating revenue and recent success on the field.

Liverpool hasn't won the English title in 18 years and is only likely to finish fourth this season, but the latest breakdown comes only days after the team advanced to the Champions League semifinals, where it will play English rival Chelsea.

DCI interest

The acrimonious spat between Hicks and Gillett has unsettled the Dubai consortium vying for control, and Dubai Capital International chief executive Sameer Al Ansari has halted all talks for now.

"You have two partners who do not see eye to eye and we decided that we pull out completely,'' Ansari said.

"Let them sort out their problems.''

Gillett had been close to sealing a deal with DIC.

"We will continue to be interested and would love to own the club,'' Ansari said.

"But we are not going to put ourselves in a difficult situation where we make the investment but we have no control over the destiny of the club and we cannot influence the success of the club.

"Unfortunately, the terms that have been put on the table do not allow us to do that.''

Hicks has threatened to veto Gillett selling his 50 percent stake to DIC, while working to raise the capital through his sports group to buy his partner out.

The Americans bought Liverpool for $431 million in March 2007, but their relationship rapidly unravelled following the sounding out of Juergen Klinsmann as a potential replacement for Benitez and Hicks' rebuffing of DIC.

A $682 million financing package in January left the club with debts of $205 million.

Mascherano ban to stand

Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano will have to complete a three-game Premier League ban after he failed in an appeal to the Football Association.

The FA rejected a claim Thursday by the Argentina midfielder that an additional two-match suspension imposed because of his reaction to being sent off against Manchester United on March 23 was excessive.

Mascherano got a one-game ban for the red card, which came when he got a second yellow for confronting referee Steve Bennett over a decision against teammate Fernando Torres. He also received an extra two-match suspension for improper conduct.

Mascherano has already missed two games and will now sit out Sunday's match at Blackburn.